Analog, May/June 2023
“Poison” by Frank Wu & Jay Werkheiser
“Aleyara’s Descent” by Christopher L. Bennett
“The Last Romantic on Belliponte” by M. L. Clark
“If Evening Found Us Young” by Mark W. Tiedemann
“One for Sorrow” by Richard Gregson
“Hail and Farewell” by Joel Richards
“Collateral Damage” by Jen Downes
“Of Laboratories and Love Songs” by Kelly Lagor
“Kuiper Pancake” by Michéle Laframboise
“Forlorn Hopes” by John Markley
“Saving Galileo” by Sean McMullen
“Been Riding With a Ghost” By Brian Hugenbruch
“A Place for Pax” by Colin F. Mattson
“Argument from Consequences” by Mary Soon Lee
“Like Emeralds Between Their Teeth” by Jo Miles
“Rare, No Box, Fair Condition” by Allen M. Steele
Reviewed by László Szegedi
“Poison” by Frank Wu & Jay Werkheiser
I really wouldn’t like to live on planet Aine, the premise of this story as both the environment and the aliens are terrifying, and I am sure I would certainly die just after a few weeks. The authors managed to set up an exciting world with an action-packed story which could totally be turned into a major blockbuster movie. Feels like setting the vibe of the TV show 24 into the distant military future, filled with politics, intrigue, and lots of shooting. A highly entertaining read!
“Aleyara’s Descent” by Christopher L. Bennett
Slow world building and puffed-up storytelling can be found in this Avatar-like fantasy world. The story is so far-flung I lost the motivation of the characters and couldn’t really get a grip on what drives the story forward. The cited poems didn’t help, either.
“The Last Romantic on Belliponte” by M. L. Clark
Bellaponte sounds really cool for a spaceship name, and the premise of the story is not an overused cliché: a renegade crew with an important mission in deep space. There’s so much a writer can develop this into, a whodunnit crime story or a chamber drama if there is enough tension between the characters. Unfortunately, this story fills the hard SF line with technological details only. And after getting to know some background of the characters in the first paragraphs, they more or less behave and act the same way all along, thus I couldn’t really connect to any particular one.
They plan the mission in the first two thirds of the story, then execute it in the latter third, almost perfectly the way they intended. There are no big surprises, no big reveal, no sudden moves, just many technical details on how these things should be done.
“If Evening Found Us Young” by Mark W. Tiedemann
A nice emotional story about a dystopic post-apocalyptic scenario. Driven by a new friendship and exploration, we can join our heroes as they try to investigate some strange anomalies. The story is filled with interesting details on how this future society will operate from both the technological and psychological aspects. The entire narrative provokes thoughts about our purpose and our willpower.
“One for Sorrow” by Richard Gregson
The fun, unique sound of the narrator with hangover telling about a dystopian London in the near future sets the tone for this tale. I was really glad to read a cli-fi with an interesting plot, dealing with the problem of e-waste but also creating another one with the solution. Plus, the author managed to slightly touch consumerism, corporate acquisition, sloppy planning and many other issues in this rather short text. Quite a nice read.
“Hail and Farewell” by Joel Richards
Navy meets aliens. Twice. The military lingo is interesting, but nothing else happens, neither in action, nor on a spiritual level, leaving the reader disappointed.
“Collateral Damage” by Jen Downes
Even though Mars has been in SF for decades, it still serves as an interesting location in new stories. The way the author fills the red planet with docking bays and machines adds a unique character to the plot. The conflict—a mech going haywire and causing the damage in the title—totally fits the world just like its resolution, but I would rather read a whole novel starting from this premise.
The audio version provided in the Analog podcast is also fun and entertaining and definitely worth a listen.
“Of Laboratories and Love Songs” by Kelly Lagor
This sentimental story connects heart diseases, laboratory work to cure them and the researcher protagonist’s love life. Reading through, I haven’t felt any strong emotional reaction from the mention of sad songs, and I felt like that part should have been extended mentioning particular songs or instruments. Also, the unnamed researcher’s story didn’t really touch me.
“Kuiper Pancake” by Michéle Laframboise
The author began the story building up a nice contrast between the personal origin story of the narrator and the mind-controlled asteroid miner robot in the future. However, it is not balanced well as the technical jargon just goes far too long. At a point, even the text says “To make a story short…” but it fails to do so. Basically, a first contact story in the Kuiper belt with all the elements read from previous stories of the kind elsewhere.
“Forlorn Hopes” by John Markley
What we find here is a very long and very detailed battle scene, like an excerpt from an SF-fantasy novel. The characters don’t get ahead at all, not even those who survive. I couldn’t really get the point of this story.
“Saving Galileo” by Sean McMullen
A utopian romantic scene turns into a fast-paced thriller. It was good to read some positive, lighthearted story set in the future with interesting thoughts about the motivation behind exploration, as well as the future of humankind. And I enjoyed the lead female character and could easily imagine a TV show based on her adventures.
“Been Riding with a Ghost” by Brian Hugenbruch
Have you ever wanted to read a noir set in space in the style of Raymond Chandler? This feeling is exactly what you get while reading this story. “Light-skippers” try to get through space, connecting to each other via loose friendships, trying to make their fortune. Even though its plot is not something you can really grab, it has a nice sentimental vibe.
“A Place for Pax” by Colin F. Mattson
Our heroine tries to get what she needs to accomplish her goals by exchange and barter. The author draws an interesting dystopia for us, filled with algae, bio-engineering and farming. Unfortunately, the world building takes so much of the story I thought this was part of a novelette. An example is the very detailed description of how the protagonist builds up her water tank system, what kind of tools she needs and so on. The subjects vary from goats to the ownership of authoring rights, but nothing is really happening story-wise. I couldn’t connect to any of the characters as their personalities were not really sketched, only some of their background information. It would be interesting to read a story of this world with a well-developed plot.
Neither could I enjoy the audio version. Even though it was interesting to listen to the author read his story, it felt monotone, and I didn’t get to know any more depth-wise about the main character except her love for cheese.
“Argument from Consequences” by Mary Soon Lee
A valid logical argument, but not quite interesting is my impression of this story. Any conversation about current AI developments brings more depth and reasoning to such train of thought, so this flash fiction didn’t really offer the reader much.
“Like Emeralds Between Their Teeth” by Jo Miles
The author turns the good old “you can’t eat money” idiom to a nightmarish fable. But the lesson is too direct, to the degree I couldn’t enjoy it as a standalone story.
“Rare, No Box, Fair Condition” by Allen M. Steele
As a non-US resident, I was always fascinated how frequently popular culture appears in American literature. Well, not in case of SF: I kind of miss mentioning other franchises in some stories, as in the classic SF movies or novels that weren’t published in their world at all. This is not the case with this story which boldly refers to Star Trek, Star Wars, Asimov’s, Astounding Stories, and other science fiction franchises or publications. Alas, Covid is built-in smoothly just as it happened indeed. The author uses simple story telling with believable characters to tell the story of a first contact going haywire. He manages to tell a nice tale in the style of the so popular Storage Wars show in just two pages.
László is an SF enthusiast living in middle Europe, also writing songs in the attic.